Progressive Download’s John Farrell notes brain scans that provide evidence of consciousness even in very young infants.

Drew Rowsome praises the Toronto production of the musical Fun Home, based on the Alison Bechdel graphic novel. I, for one, can’t wait to see it.

Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel notes that, although Proxima Centauri is far too active a star for Proxima Centauri b to be Earth-like, that world could still plausibly host life-supporting environments.

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy suggests a recent deal at the federal level in the US between Trump and Cory Gardner has created space for states to legalize marijuana without fear of federal intervention.

Inkfish notes that patterns of wear on the tusks of elephants indicate most are right-handed.

Joe. My. God. links to a study suggesting a relationship between Trump rallies and violent assaults.

JSTOR Daily links to a paper examining why people drink Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day.

Language Hat takes a look at the use of Xhosa as the language of Wakanda.

Lawyers, Guns and Money mourns Alfred Crosby, the historian whose work examined the epidemiological and ecological changes wrought by contact with the Americas.

The Map Room Blog links to a map showing indigenous placenames in Canada.

In the aftermath of the death of Stephen Hawking, Out There had a lovely idea: what nearby major stars emitted life than arrive at the moment of his birth? Hawking’s star is Regulus, and mine was (nearly) Arcturus.

Marginal Revolution suggests AI will never be able to centrally plan an economy because the complexity of the economy will always escape it.

Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel examines Stephen Hawking’s contribution to the study of black holes.

Supernova Condensate shares a list of moons, fictional and otherwise, from Endor on down.

Centauri Dreams notes the impending retirement of the pioneering Kepler telescope, and what’s being done in the time before this retirement.

D-Brief notes how nanowires made of gold and titanium were used to restore the sight of blind mice.

Russell Darnley takes a look at the indigenous people of Riau province, the Siak, who have been marginalized by (among other things) the Indonesian policy of transmigration.

Dead Things reports on more evidence of Denisovan ancestry in East Asian populations, with the suggestion that the trace of Denisovan ancestry in East Asia came from a different Denisovan population than the stronger traces in Melanesia.

Hornet Stories paints a compelling portrait of the West Texas oasis-like community of Marfa.

JSTOR Daily notes how indigenous mythology about illness was used to solve a hantavirus outbreak in New Mexico in the 1990s.

Language Log praises the technical style of a Google Translate translation of a text from German to English.

Lawyers, Guns and Money notes that, under the Shah, Iran was interested in building nuclear plants. Iranian nuclear aspirations go back a long way.

The LRB Blog looks at the unsettling elements of the literary, and other, popularity of Jordan Peterson.

Marginal Revolution notes the continuing existence of a glass ceiling even in relatively egalitarian Iceland.

The NYR Daily looks at the unsettling elements behind the rise of Xi Jinping to unchecked power. Transitions from an oligarchy to one-man rule are never good for a country, never mind one as big as China.

Drew Rowsome writes about Love, Cecil, a new film biography of photographer Cecil Beaton.

Peter Rukavina celebrates the 25th anniversary of his move to Prince Edward Island. That province, my native one, is much the better for his having moved there. Congratulations!

Window on Eurasia looks at a strange story of Russian speculation about Kazakh pan-Turkic irredentism for Orenburg that can be traced back to one of its own posts.

At Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Frances Woolley takes the time to determine that Canadian university professors tend to be more left-wing than the general Canadian population, and to ask why this is the case.